The Fourth of July

Here's a pic of Lukas chasing the pinata at our 4th of July church picnic on Sunday.

Of course, Independence Day began with the ceremonial flag raising at our house...which means Lukas accompanied Tom outside the house, begging to "unroll" the flag.

For once, we didn't have a lot of plans for the day, besides a block party at Chris and Doug's house in the afternoon. We decided to spend the morning putting our new desk from Ikea together. With a new baby on the way, we're finally giving up our office/guest bedroom for Natalie and Lukas to use, and the new baby will go in their bedroom. We already sold the bed, and now we have to fit the office someplace...we decided on our bedroom, and will be using a cool desk with the add-on unit attached above recommended by Kim. Instead of adding on rooms to our house, we've determined that it's less expensive to buy new furniture that stores more stuff in the small space we've been blessed with.

After much redirection of Lukas and Natalie, we finished putting the desk together and moved outside to harvest peaches from our peach tree. We had put bird netting over it a couple weeks ago, which did a great job of protecting our crop from the birds. We still had to throw away a lot of peaches that got worms, but we did come away with a pretty good crop! Some were perfect, but got damaged as we picked them, so I turned them into freezer jam...my first time making jam, so we'll see how it turns out.

Then it was off to the block party and fireworks show. Many of Lukas and Natalie's friends were there, including Hannah and baby sister Chloe (the hostesses of the little kids), Russell, big Hannah, Caden, Shelby and Mia, James, Lena and Matty. Last year Lukas didn't do well with the noise of the fireworks, but I think prepping him for it by buying a few the night before, and setting a few off before the main show, helped him get used to it. Tom also brought his range ear muffs for Lukas, and Natalie wore her bath earplugs. Natalie did great!

Here's a pic of Natalie and Mia staying warm (ocean breeze in the evening), Lukas doing his own thing (very secure in his manhood as he says, "this is a girl's toy"), Natalie enjoying a chocolate chip cookie, and Lukas and Natalie snuggling with me as we watch the fireworks in the street.

Thanks Chris and Doug for a spectacular party!